What is a digital runway?
Think of a digital runway as a show you can step into. Instead of watching a flat video or scrolling photos, you enter a calm 3D room built around the collection. You walk at your own pace, stop where you like, and study each look from the angles that matter. It feels closer to a private viewing than a feed.
Clothes are judged in motion. A designed digital space lets you see how a sleeve turns, how a hem lifts, how a jacket holds its line. It also opens access. You do not need a ticket or a city. You just enter, look at your own pace, and decide. Could this be the future of accessible fashion shows?
How it works
You tap your invitation link and arrive at the digital runway environment.
Controls are minimal: walk, turn, pause.
The room guides you through the collection in the designated order.
Each look has a small note with one useful detail from the atelier.
Why fashion houses are using it
Digital runways extend access and sharpen storytelling. Brands use these spaces to stage drops inside worlds people already visit, to preview silhouettes before production, and to keep a single idea alive in two contexts: the garment you’ll wear and its designed twin for an avatar.
Over the last few seasons, the industry has tested this in different ways. Balenciaga built a “Strange Times” hub inside Fortnite alongside in-game looks, inviting millions to encounter the brand in a fully walkable environment. Ralph Lauren followed with the Polo Stadium activation and even co-hosted a global Fortnite tournament (The Polo Stadium Cup), blending culture, community and collection storytelling. Nike’s Airphoria created an Air Max universe in Fortnite using UEFN, turning sneaker language into a city you could explore.
Outside Fortnite, Roblox has become a dependable stage: Tommy Hilfiger live-streamed its New York show into a parallel Roblox experience, letting audiences watch and shop in a phygital flow; Burberry introduced virtual handbags with avatar emotes that matched design themes.
Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week has hosted houses from Coach to Diesel alongside digital-native labels, proving the format can support multi-brand calendars.
Gucci continues to treat virtual worlds as serious exhibition spaces, from persistent “Gucci Town” activations in Roblox to Gucci Cosmos Land in The Sandbox, where heritage rooms were rebuilt as an explorable show.
Meta’s Horizon Worlds is also experimenting with fashion-centred events and avatar styling seasons, pointing to a broader social VR context for shows you attend with friends. Industry tracking suggests hundreds of brands have now activated across virtual platforms.
What makes a good digital runway
(C) Beyond Creative / Fortnite / Balenciaga
Distance that teaches silhouette Give coats eight–twelve metres; dresses and separates five–seven. The space should “place” the viewer at the right read range without prompts.
Light that respects fabric Treat it like a studio: soft direction for wool, clean highlights for technical surfaces, no glare that flattens texture.
Calm pacing Motion loops should breathe; audio should steady attention, not compete with it.
Clear actions Save, reserve, or request fit guidance without breaking immersion. If you want the physical, the path should be obvious. If you want the twin, it should be a click away.
What you gain
For audiences it improves access, agency, and better decisions. You can return tomorrow, compare two lengths, and study a back view you’d miss in a livestream.
For brands it allows you to truly measure engagement in a space you control, cleaner read-through on silhouettes, and a natural bridge to phygital wardrobes (one idea living as a garment and as a designed twin with shared provenance).
Where it’s going
Expect more shows to open first inside playable rooms, then move into physical releases that mirror what you saw there. Expect heritage exhibits to gain digital companions you can walk through at home. Expect creative teams to treat world layout with the same care they give pattern and casting. The runway is gaining another door.
